Nonprofit Status
All PTAs in Virginia are organized and chartered by Virginia PTA and covered under the umbrella of Virginia PTA’s 501(c)(3) nonprofit, tax-exempt status granted by the Internal Revenue Service.
Virginia PTA’s federal group exemption exempts your local unit PTA from paying federal income tax on money earned, allows donations to be claimed as tax-exempt, and enables your local PTA unit to apply for a Virginia Sales Tax Exemption. Virginia PTA files annually with the IRS to affirm that your PTA is in good standing and should remain under our federal tax exemption.
As a subordinate of Virginia PTA, your local PTA is also covered in Virginia PTA’s annual filing to the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) and the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS). This umbrella coverage enables your local PTA to fundraise, solicit charitable contributions, and host charitable gaming activities, raffles, and the like in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Your PTA does NOT need a DBA certificate from the Virginia SCC because your PTA is included in Virginia PTA’s filing.
Standards of Affiliation Letter (aka 501(c)3 Determination Letter)
Annually, Virginia PTA provides your PTA with a Standards of Affiliation (SOA) verification letter that verifies your PTA’s good standing as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit under Virginia PTA. Your SOA letter can be provided to sponsors, donors, grant makers, and financial institutions to validate your IRS status as a 501(c)3 exempt from federal income tax as well as your coverage status with the Virginia SCC and VDACS.
Standards of Affiliation letters are automatically uploaded to your PTA’s account in Givebacks (formerly MemberHub) after all annual Good Standing materials have been submitted to Virginia PTA via Givebacks., including a dues payment for the current fiscal year. Your annual Standard of Affiliation letter is valid from compliance due date (August 1) to compliance due date (August 1). Please be mindful of this. If you have something that you renew annually using your SOA letter, you should complete that renewal prior to your end-of-fiscal-year transition to the incoming PTA Board. You can find your unit’s letter in Givebacks by looking under Compliance > Enter Submissions.
All Standards of Affiliation materials are due annually by August 1.
Fiscal Year
PTAs in Virginia have a fiscal year of July 1 to June 30.
Virginia Sales Tax Exemption
Virginia sales tax exemption is not connected with the IRS or federal income tax exemption. The Virginia Department of Taxation, which administers the sales tax exemption, can exempt your local PTA from paying sales tax on your purchases. Having a sales tax exemption is not required for your PTA. (Learn more here about applying for a Virginia Sales Tax Exemption and if it is a good fit for your PTA’s spending practices.) If your PTA has a Sales Tax Exemption, it typically needs to be renewed directly with the Virginia Department of Taxation every five years.
Quick Money Management Basics
- Three authorized signers. Your PTA’s checking account should have three authorized signers: the Treasurer, President, and Secretary.
- Two signatures on checks. All checks should have two signatures—ideally, the Treasurer, with the President as cosigner. Virginia PTA dues may be remitted electronically by just the President or the Treasurer.
- Check recipient other than yourself. You should not sign checks written to yourself or to “Cash.”
- Reimbursements. All requests for reimbursement should have a Treasurer Request/Reimbursement Form attached to the receipt(s). Best practice is that Reimbursement Requests are submitted within 30 days of the expense and by the last day of the school year.
- Two people count cash. All cash/checks from events should be counted by two members of the Board, and deposited on the same day. See Cash Management Guidance (left) for more tips.
- Monthly reporting. At every Executive Board and General Membership Meeting, the Treasurer should provide a Bank Reconciliation Report and a Budget Report.
- Monthly verification of bank and electronic transfer accounts. One person without signature authority should review the bank statements AND electronic banking account statements (e.g. Stripe/Square/Paypal etc.) against the monthly Treasurer Reconciliation Report.
- Keep PTA funds separate. PTA funds should never be deposited into a personal account, school account, or the account of any other organization or group. Likewise, you should not deposit school funds or personal funds into your PTA account.
Banking & Financial Accounts
Following an officer election, your PTA checking account should be updated as soon as possible to reflect new authorized signers. Your PTA’s bank account should have three authorized signers (Treasurer, President, and Secretary) who each have access to the bank account, receive statements and can sign checks.
New Treasurers should also update the ownership of the Stripe account in Givebacks and any other electronic banking accounts (e.g. square/paypal). Stripe is the credit card payment processing system utilized by Givebacks (and many other on-line payment systems) to allow your e-store to sell items memberships, spirit wear, event tickets and more. Stripe sweeps money from your Givebacks online store into your PTA’s bank account. Stripe is NOT connected to your PTA compliance in any way, and is not needed to remit monthly dues to Virginia PTA. Treasurers will need to provide their SSN to Stripe (or other credit card payment processing systems) as part of changing the account ownership because, just like your bank, Stripe is a financial entity that must comply the federal Know Your Customer laws which requires financial institutions to verify customer identity and assess and monitor customer risk.
Preparing a Budget
Preparing your annual budget is an excellent opportunity for your board to talk through goals for the coming year. Remember, our mission is to advocate for the academic success, health, and welfare of children and to create a supportive, inclusive school climate. You should only raise enough money to cover your needs for the year. Please be mindful of whether or not the items that you discuss raising money for are items that should be paid for by the school division, or if they would create inequitable learning across your county or region. If so, you should advocate for improved resources/funding for your entire school community.
Your Executive Board should approve the proposed budget, which should then be presented to the general membership for adoption. Per the uniform bylaws, you should obtain general membership approval for any changes to the adopted budget over five hundred dollars ($500.00) in aggregate across all expenditures per fiscal year. Please remember, dues collected on behalf of Virginia PTA and National PTA are considered accounts payable and should not be included in your budget as direct income. As a 501(c)3 you must be able to prove your expenditures align with the mission, therefore, spending should be accounted for with trackable line items and should not include any lump sum discretionary spending payable to an individual or principal.
Reporting at PTA Meetings
The Treasurer should provide a financial report at every Executive Board and General Membership meeting. The report should include the following:
- Reconciliation Report. Providing income/expenses and current balance based on your check register versus your bank statements.
- Budget Report. Provide line-item details of your actual spending on each line item versus your budget.
At your first PTA meeting of the school year, your PTA should receive a copy of the Annual Financial Review and approve a budget.
Membership Dues Remittance (due MONTHLY)
Many PTAs start their membership campaigns in the Spring during open house events for rising Elementary, Middle, or High School students. From March 1 to June 30th, your PTA can sell memberships for both the current fiscal year and the following fiscal year. If you don’t see this option in your Givebacks Account, please contact Givebacks/MemberHub and ask for this feature be enabled for your PTA. Please remember to record membership sales for the following fiscal year in a separate line-item from your current year membership sales. Current year membership sales should still be remitted to Virginia PTA monthly, and no later than June 30th. Advance Membership sales should be remitted to Virginia PTA starting on July 1.
Annual 990 Filing (due August 1)
Annually, your PTA is required to directly file a Form 990 with the IRS in July andprovide a copy to Virginia PTA by August 1 in accordance with the uniform bylaws, which is a legally binding document.
The outgoing Treasurer and other officers are responsible for preparing and filing the taxes for the year they oversaw.
Your Treasurer or President can file your Form 990 immediately at the end of the fiscal year; you do not need to wait for completion of the Annual Financial Review if your PTA earns less than $50,000 on a three-year average. Failure to file your taxes with the IRS and report the filing to Virginia PTA can result in the loss of your tax-exempt status and/or your EIN being revoked by the IRS.
Annual Financial Review (due August 1)
Completing an Annual Financial Review (previously called an “audit”) by August 1 is required under the uniform bylaws. The purpose of the Financial Review is to ensure that PTAs are following proper financial procedures, practicing financial responsibility, and maintaining transparency with their General Membership. The Financial Review will help your PTA identify gaps and opportunities to improve financial practices and get back on track with best practices.
Your Financial Review can be completed in three ways:
- Form a Financial Review Committee of at least three members appointed by your Executive Board (none of the committee members should be authorized signers on your PTA’s checking account); OR
- Participate in a Financial Review Swap hosted by your Council PTA; OR
- Swap books with a neighboring PTA.
Participating in a Swap is a great training opportunity, as it helps incoming Treasurers develop a strong understanding of organizational basics, while allowing experienced Treasurers to gain insights and tips from seeing how other PTAs structure their work.
Outgoing Treasurers and other officers are responsible for completing the Financial Review to report on the fiscal year they oversaw. Completing this work by August 1 enables the incoming Executive Board to use the valuable summer months to budget and prepare for the coming year.
If you are an incoming Treasurer and do not have a completed Financial Review or books/records for your previous fiscal year, you should document the lack of records and your efforts to obtain the records on the Financial Review form and submit it to Virginia PTA, along with the signatures of your incoming board. If you are having issues with records not being turned over in a reasonable and timely fashion, you should immediately contact your Council PTA for support.
SAMPLE SUMMER PLANNING CALENDAR (Full Treasurer Monthly Checklist)
| Last Membership Meeting of the School Year | Adopt a Summer Spending Budget to support operations until the first General Membership meeting in the Fall, when the full Fiscal Year Budget will be adopted. |
| Last Day of School | Target deadline to submit all Treasurer Reimbursement Requests. |
| June 30 | Fiscal year ends, and so does spending under the 202X–202Y budget. |
| July 1–9 | Treasurer reconciles checking account up until June 30. Treasurer fills out their portion of the Financial Review form and prepares all materials for the Financial Review Committee. Treasurer files 202X taxes (IRS Form 990N) for 202X–202Y fiscal year and submits the verification form to the Virginia PTA via Givebacks by August 1. |
| July 10–20 | Financial Review Committee conducts their review, fills out the remainder of the Financial Review form, and submits it to the Executive Board. |
| July 20–30 | Incoming officers visit the bank to update the checking account’s authorized signers. (Three signers is best practice; typically, the President, Treasurer, and Secretary are authorized signers). Incoming Treasurer changes ownership on Givebacks Stripe account. |
| August 1 |
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| Month of August |
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| First General Membership Meeting of 202Y–202Z | General Membership votes to adopt the 202X–202Y Financial Review and the 202Y–202Z budget. |
Get Organized
Annual Financial Review
Tax Filing
Sample Budgets & Reports
Insurance Information
Treasurer Requests & Monthly Reporting
- Single Document Treasurer Request Form
- Check Request Form
- Cash Count Deposit Sheet
- List of Checks for Deposit Form
- Record of Deposit
- Request for Advance
- Request for Disbursement of Funds
- Voided Check Tracker
- NPTA Fraud Prevention Check List
